Phone Calls Are So Broken

I'm declaring a phone call armistice. Why?

When I call you, I’m essentially saying:

“Stop whatever it is you’re doing and pay attention to me right now.”

If you were doing anything creative, anything that involves flow, you’ve now had that interrupted. It could be hours before you get it back.

All for my phone call.

If – on the rare occasion – I’m calling you, I’m going to have a really important (read: time-sensitive) reason. Or we’re going to have scheduled this phone call ahead of time.

Exceptions should be made for close friends and relations, of course, but can we all just agree that we won’t abuse phone calls now that we’ve got countless of other ways to get someone’s attention on their terms?

1 response
While some calls can be disruptive, there are also those that just make your day better and help you become even more creative. Don't get me wrong, I am very sensitive about who can call me and very rarely have phone conversations longer than 3 minutes, but there is jut no substitute for the human voice. Very few people can convey their tone exactly in writing. While 'forcing' someone to put their words on paper (well, e-mail/text/IM) does make the message more eloquent, I think we have become all to comfortable hiding behind a keyboard. I guess I just am old school :)